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ASOIAF Book Club – A Game of Thrones, Chapters 59-end

Wow, A Game of Thrones is over already. I mean, yes, technically it took me over two months to read, at the pace we were all going, but it was one of those books that you get so stuck into and when you reach the last page, you start to wonder, “Why can’t I just keep going?”

Luckily for me there are 4 other books in the series to continue on with, and the book club will continue!

So let’s get down to this section’s Q&A session and see what we have to say.

Jamie: Do you think there’s any room for growth with Sansa? Will she ever find a backbone or do you think she’ll remain a frightened, weak willed pup?

I think there’s still plenty of room for her development. But I don’t think that she’s weak-willed, not after getting the chance to see more of her personality. I think she’s showing strength in a different way. Rather than try to fight back, she’s trying to bend to keep the peace, to put herself in a position where she can make a difference to what she’s come to recognize as a bad situation. You see this in the way she begs for mercy for her father. Begging doesn’t automatically make one weak.

I think, also, that she can be pushed to the limit, especially now that physical abuse and cruelty is occurring to her. I’m actually looking forward to seeing if she snaps and starts fighting back more assertively. I don’t think she’s the type to be easily broken.

Heather: All the chapters have been told from the point of view of particular characters, and the story has gone back and forth along their journeys. Why do you think only these characters have been chosen? What does it say about them over the others?

Most of the chapters have involved characters who are deeply involved in a situation that’s important to the plot, and chapters from their point of view serve as a good way of getting the reading information without having a ton of exposition and infodumping. It also gives a sense of scale; with such a large cast of characters, each in different situations, you get a good feel for the vastness of the world, the difference in cultures and societies, and generally gives the whole thing a very epic feel.

However, there are some characters (Bran, in particular), who seem as though they either a) outlived their usefulness when it comes to perspective but the author didn’t feel like dealing with any, “What happened to him?” questions, or b) are only around now, showing us stuff that isn’t that important, because they’ll play a major part later on and the author doesn’t want them to be forgotten. I honestly can’t tell which at this point.

Allison: Do you think Jaime and Cersei have developed as characters at all throughout the story?

Not in the slightest. We don’t get to see as much of Jaime as we do Cersei, but they seem weirdly one-dimensional, without much to motivate them beyond self-righteous entitlement. They’re willing to do whatever it takes to get what they want… but that hasn’t changed from the first moment they stepped on the pages. I hope they do get some more development as the books go on, because otherwise they’re quickly going to get rather yawn-worthy.

Ria: Mirri’s about-face: expected and in-character, or did it feel to you like it came out of left field?

Both, actually. I didn’t expect it, but it wasn’t exactly out of character. Partly because her character wasn’t very well-defined, but it’s easy to see how kind words masked her bitterness, so while it surprised me, it didn’t seem random or out of sync with what was already established. It was admittedly interesting to see a character who wasn’t what she seemed to be on the surface. They seem to be somewhat lacking in the series so far, at least from what’s been revealed to us.

See what the others in the book club are saying! Jamie | Heather | Allison

2 comments on “ASOIAF Book Club – A Game of Thrones, Chapters 59-end”

Good point on Sansa – I’m hoping that you’re right and that the Stark blood will out. At the moment she seems like Martin’s taken the fairytale damsel archetype and forced her into this world to shock the reader into realising that fantasy isn’t smile and sunshine; it’s cruel and hard and if you have any sense you’ll kill your neighbour before they kill you.

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Fantastic book, loved reading it, definitely recommended
Very enjoyable, a few issues but still well worth reading
Decent, problems detracted from enjoyment somewhat, but still worth giving a try
Some serious issues, was a struggle to read, not worth keeping around
I'm sorry I wasted my time on this...

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Any books received by the publisher or author for review will be noted as such. Any books without this notification are owned by me or were borrowed from friends or the library. All reviews here are my honest opinion, uninfluenced by the manner in which I obtained the book, and no money was provided in exchange for me writing said reviews.